My god boys we were really really shit but somehow managed to win this game ?! We started well enough and went in front early but after that we really never got going and stumbled through the game missing chance after chance and playing pretty poorly.
Grattons are not great but took advanatge of us and very nearly punished us as they came at us once they got the goal and caused as all sorts of problems with their pace and general youth.
Dave poll and Benny chapman both missed chances with Dave no goal Poll being guilty of missing 150 chances on goal and even tackling himself late on in the game !!. He later apoligised and promised to bring the real dave poll next week which is to be comended as no one else put their hands up.
Captain for the day Lee Bone was grumpy anyway as he had not slept for three days and almost had a baby in the middle of the pitch as it was frustrating setting up so many guilt edged chances and not putting them away. One fan said ' all i could here was him shouting and screaming then he would stomp his feet and shake his head'
We had an off day all over and it was not just the boys up front who had a mare !! The whole back four were poor in general and looked shaky for a change which contributed to 1 of grattons goals and almost gifted them a few others which they missed or the cross bar saved us.
Palmer and Kentch both made some great slices and errors with palmer setting up one of there goals witha nice pass and kentch tried to head the ball from about a yard off the deck which wa hilarious to watch giving the fans something to chuckle about.
Teapot had a angry up with Dave Poll on the side line and lost it for a little while which is out of character for him ?! Shows the passion though and the fans loved it. One fan could be heard shouting ' go on tap dick you give it too him'
Benny chapman got two penaltty's from two specteclar swan dives and has been approached by the local ballerina company to see if he wants to join up :) It did get us two very important penalty's though so i'm not complaining. Boner took the mantle as captain and probably wanted Dave out of it in case he fell over or something on the run up ! He storked both away with ease and never looked like missing with two hard and low drives sending the keeper the wrong way.
We made subs to try and inject something different but poor simon chandler only managed 4 minutes on his debut before twisting his knee :( Louis came on too and struggled to make any impact. Payno did alright on the left and looked up for it which contributed to us winning the corner for the winning goal which was pleasing to see and the fans were heard chanting ' Paynolski Paynolski he's got a massive bush, Paynolski Paynolski we love that fucking bush'
MOM Lee Bone powered home a trade mark header in the 86th minute from a well delivered corner from Tom barnes to seal the victory and give the fans something to shout about. The grattons keeper before that had done well and made some important saves to keep them in it. we should of had this game won in the first half otherwise.
Hopefully there is a lesson to be learnt and all the players will not let themselves get dragged into a dog fight again as thats the general way if your playing a scrappy team you lower your standard. We like to keep the ball and stroke it about a bit which is something we struggled with in this match and will be looking to put right in this sundays cup clash against Arun view from or division.
On a day when not one player did them self much justice we managed to win and that is the most encouraging aspect as we showed the will to win and win ugly which is a very important thing in a long hard season.
On a sour note Tom Barnes saw red on the final wistle after a Grattons hauled him down ripping his shirt and the ref was gagging to get his red card out which will lose us tom for at least three games and cost him £35-48.
To be fair he was dragged to the floor and they both should of probably only got a yellow card but its done ow so we move on. A fan was talking to a dog walker and was heard saying ' My god we normally get one red card a season but we have managed to get two in three games '
Right next week now to get your minds on with players being dropped and players coming back in to the team. Win this and we are in the quarter finals lads !!
